Rupert Murdoch Staff

Rupert Murdoch Staff, Neville Thurlbeck said the proprietor need “look no further” than his former colleagues to staff the new publication – and urged him to avoid launching it “on the cheap” by simply using current Sun staff on a seven-day rota.

In his Huffington Post blog, he reminded the proprietor that employees of the former Sunday newspaper were told when it was closed that they would be found jobs.

He suggested that former investigations editor Mazher Mahmood should be high on Murdoch’s “hit list” and would find himself “back on natural territory”.

But Mr Thurlbeck, now theatre critic at the Surrey Comet, ruled himself out of the running “for dozens of reasons”.

Mr Thurlbeck was linked to the phone hacking scandal in July 2009 after an email was found marked “For Neville”. The email contained transcripts of voicemail messages that had allegedly been illegally intercepted.